


Levels

by Persiflage



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Daisy's Still Rising Tide at Heart, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Hugging, Older Man/Younger Woman, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson, Pre-Canon Season 4, Secret Relationship, Workplace Relationship, byebyehiatus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 00:13:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8079352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Daisy discovers the Director's brought back Levels, and she's got a higher level of clearance than Phil. She is not amused.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zauberer_sirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/gifts).



> Over on Tumblr becketted offered the following #ByeByeHiatus prompt: _Imagine the new Director has reinstated Levels in SHIELD and when the dust settles on the whole Quake deal and Daisy comes back she suddenly discovers she has a higher Level than Coulson. How fun would that be?_

"You're joking, right?" Daisy stares at Coulson with a disbelieving look on her face.

"No," he says, a bit curtly, then softens it with, "I'm really not."

"But that's ridiculous," Daisy protests angrily. "You were the Director. I'm a former Rising Tide Hacktivist, an Inhuman who went 'rogue' – " She makes air quotes around the word. "and I never even went to the Academy, so how can you be Level Red while I'm Level Amber? And who the hell named these this, anyway? What are we, stoplights?"

Coulson purses his lips, hands on hips as she rants animatedly. They're in the shooting range, and they're meant to be putting in some practice, but Daisy's just discovered that not only has the new Director reinstated Levels (which he knew she'd be disgusted about), but he's given Daisy a higher level than Coulson.

"I'm unreliable," he tells her. She snorts loudly. "Daisy." He realises he's sort of pleading with her, and wishes he could take that tone back. "Look it doesn't matter. It's not important. All that matters, all that's important, is getting the job done – protecting people."

She surprises him by stepping in closer and slipping her arms around him. "You're the most reliable guy I've ever met, Phil," she says softly, and hugs him. After a moment of startlement, he hugs her back, and tries not to enjoy the way she fits against his body (she always has).

"In the end, I was forbidden to go after you," he tells her softly, and that makes her chuckle, which confuses him. He pulls back to look at her face, seeing her biting her bottom lip as her eyes dance with obvious amusement. "What?"

"Well," she says, "you don't think that's a bit, I dunno, Disney princess-ish? Forbidding you to go after me?" She snorts with laughter. "Ours is a forbidden relationship." Her tone's all dramatic now, and he laughs softly.

She brushes her cheek against his as she pulls him back in close, and he feels as if someone's set fire to all his nerve endings. She gives him a tight squeeze, then lets go.

"Let's get this done," she says, nodding towards the weapons racks.

"Okay."

"Forbidden," she says in a low voice, shaking her head, then turns to fetch the sniper rifle, and Coulson takes a moment to adjust himself while her back's turned.

DJ-PC-DJ-PC-DJ

"You need to bring Coulson in on this," Daisy tells the Director, hands on hips, tone firm. "He's still the best profiler SHIELD's ever had."

The Director shakes his head, not even looking up from the open file on his desk. "We don't need Agent Coulson on this," he tells her. "He told me that you're as good a profiler as he is."

She snorts. "He exaggerated," she says. "I'm not as good as him, not yet. He's had way more experience than I have."

"His clearance level is too low," the Director tells her, and does look up now.

"So?" Daisy says, throwing her hands in the air. "Just increase his clearance. It's ridiculous that he's Level Red when I'm Level Amber, anyway." She bites back any comments on the reinstatement of Levels within SHIELD – while she still thinks it's bullshit, she doesn't want to antagonise the guy entirely – he's still wary about her being an Agent.

"He's unreliable," the Director tells her.

She can't help it, she snorts. "Coulson's no more unreliable than I am," she tells him. "You just want to punish him for what went down after I left."

He gives her a look and she folds her arms across her chest, staring down at him. After a moment he shifts in his chair, looking uncomfortable. "He's accepted the situation. Why can't you?"

She rolls her eyes. "Maybe because you're wasting one of your best assets?" she suggests, trying to keep the sarcasm from her voice. "You do realise that, aside from May, Coulson's your most experienced Agent, don't you?"

"That doesn't make him reliable."

She shakes her head. "Can I bring him in if I need help?"

"Absolutely not," he says firmly. "I forbid it."

She just about refrains from rolling her eyes, but barely. "You know, Director, you're a little too fond of that word."

"Agent Johnson, I allow you a certain amount of licence in light of your experiences earlier this year, but I will not tolerate insubordination. You've got your mission – " He nods at the file on Daisy's side of the desk. "Now kindly get on with it."

"Yes sir," she says, her tone dripping with sarcasm now. She snatches the file folder up and stalks out, letting his door bang behind her.

She storms into the computing lab, and the couple of techs in there look up, then straight back down at their keyboards and tablets. As Daisy heads towards her desk, she senses the pair leaving, which suits her just fine.

She's almost finished reading the mission profile when she senses Phil approaching, and she looks up to see him hesitating in the doorway.

"Come in, Phil," she says, and gestures at the chair on the far side of her desk. She's reminded, uncomfortably, of the days when he had an office and she used to stand or sit on the other side of his desk.

"New mission?" he asks, his tone casual, but his vibrations reading tense.

"Yup," she says. There's a beat, then she tells him about it. Yeah, she's breaking protocol, or whatever, but she doesn't care. Like Phil said the other day, what's important is protecting people, and she's not going to waste a valuable asset just because the new Director is an ass.

They work through the profile of the woman they're after, then Daisy begins running a search.

"Coffee?" Phil asks.

"Please," she agrees, then she looks up. "Um – "

"Um?" he repeats as he gets to his feet, his tone questioning.

"I, uh, probably shouldn't have gotten you involved in this," she says, tapping the file.

His eyes go wide. "Daisy," he protests in a whisper.

She shakes her head. "I know, but I don't care." She holds up a hand when he opens his mouth. "No, Phil, I don't. He can bust me down to Level Red, or, I dunno, Level 'I Don't Trust You', I don't care. I only care that we do our jobs and use all of our resources to do so. We both know that Levels are bullshit."

He shakes his head now. "You can take the woman out of the Rising Tide," he says, and his tone is all fond and amused now, she notices.

She snorts. "Yeah." A beat. "You said something about coffee?"

He chuckles. "I'll get some."

"Thanks."

DJ-PC-DJ-PC-DJ

Hours later, they're aboard the Zephyr1, in the Director's cabin since he's not aboard, and they're both in need of somewhere comfortable to rest: Daisy's used her powers pretty extensively, both to save the lives of a group of people, and to stop the woman they'd gone after. Phil's recovering from being knocked out, briefly. He's on the bed, eyes closed, and Daisy's sitting at the little table, eating – Mack had brought her the takeout he'd grabbed before they started back to the Playground.

"Are you sure you don't want anything else to eat?" she asks Phil.

"'m sure," he mumbles back, and she can tell from his vibrations that he's already half asleep. She pushes away the rest of the third pizza, takes a slug of soda, then moves into the tiny ensuite bathroom to wash her hands and face. Coming back out, she sits on the end of the bed while she gets her boots off.

She feels Phil move, and then his hand's on her back. "Can you manage?" he asks.

She tugs her other boot off. "Yeah. Go to sleep, Phil," she says, standing up and beginning to shuck off her field suit – she'd ditched the utility belt and gauntlets before sitting down to eat, but retained the jacket and pants.

When she turns around, in tank and boy shorts, he's staring up at her with what she can only think of as a worshipful expression on his face. She can sense simmering arousal colouring his vibrations, and she's surprised to realise that she is aroused too. She kneels on the end of the bed and takes the time to look at his body: he's in sweatpants and a white muscle shirt, and the shirt does nothing to hide the breadth of his chest or his very powerful arms. She licks her lips unconsciously, and Phil moans softly. Her eyes snap to his face, and she sees he's grown flushed.

"Phil," she says, her voice so low it's practically a growl.

"Daisy." His voice sounds rather higher-pitched than usual.

She puts a hand on his leg, then slides it up to his knee, which she squeezes, then slides it to his thigh – there's a big bulge in his sweats, and the thought that he's hard for her makes her grow wet.

She moves up the bed and straddles him, and he groans very loudly as her weight settles over his cock.

"Daisy." His tone is strangled, she thinks, and she leans down to kiss him hungrily. 

When they come up for air, she stands up on the bed and strips off her shorts and tank, then she drags his sweats down his legs, exposing his very large erection. She licks her lips again, then kneels over him.

"I don't have – " he begins, and she shakes her head. 

"It's okay, Phil." She clasps the base of his cock in her right hand and lowers herself down onto it, feeling the stretch in her inner walls as she takes him in.

"Fuck!" 

She smirks at the exclamation, and at how wide his eyes are, his pupils blown with desire. "Yeah, Phil, that's the plan. I'm gonna fuck you."

She giggles when he grabs hold of her upper arms and tugs her down so he can kiss her, all tongue and teeth, and a hint of desperation.

DJ-PC-DJ-PC-DJ

"How pissed off is he gonna be if he finds out about this?" Daisy asks, gesturing at her and Phil's naked, entangled bodies afterwards. There's a sheen of sweat on both their bodies, and she feels pretty euphoric.

"If?" Phil repeats.

She rolls her head sideways to look him in the eye, those gorgeous blue-grey eyes that she's always loved. "If," she says. "Personally, I don't see that it's anyone's business but ours. We've always been close, and we've always done our jobs."

"This will probably make me more unreliable, in his eyes," Phil says.

Daisy can't help rolling her own eyes. "Then we won't tell him. Does SHIELD have an anti-fraternisation policy now?"

He shakes his head. "I don't think it's even occurred to him."

"How exactly did he get this job, again? Oh wait, don't tell me – politics."

When she looks over at him again, it's to see amusement and fondness in his eyes again. "I love you," he says, so casually, as if it's no big deal.

She can't help staring at him, though, a bit wide-eyed. Because yeah, she knew that Phil loved her – has known that for some time, but hearing him actually say it is something else.

"Phil," she says, then lunges across the bed. She pins him down and kisses him, deep and hard and messy. He kisses back, desperately she thinks in a distant corner of her mind.

"I love you, too," she whispers when they finally pull apart to get their breath back. "I'm not going to tell him. Are you?"

"No," he says firmly. "He doesn't need to know."

"Good." She reaches down between their bodies and curls a hand around his swelling cock. Within a few moments he's fully hard again, and she rolls them over so she's on her back and he's on top. "Fuck me, Phil."

He groans quietly, then guides himself into her slick heat. He feels bigger this way, she notes, and wraps her legs around his waist, pinning his lower body to hers. He begins to thrust, and she gives herself up to the pleasure of his body over hers, his cock filling and stretching her. Having a secret sexual relationship with Phil isn't going to be easy, she knows that, but they're pretty good at being sneaky, so she reckons they shouldn't have too much trouble. She finds herself excited by the idea of it – of sneaking into corners for kisses and touches, of slipping into his quarters to spend the night, then slipping back out before she goes for training in the morning.

She comes hard, and then he's coming too, his cock pulsing deep inside her.

This, she decides happily, is going to be fun.


End file.
